TRADING PLACES

1983, John Landis, 117 mins.

A film about life-swapping.

John Landis’s comedy is an interesting example of how a film can change personality during its running time. The first two-thirds is an elegantly structured satirical comedy which charts the parallel rise and fall of Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. Then, during the final forty minutes, it changes into a screwball farce complete with disguises, silly costumes and a gorilla. Most people frown upon this development but I find it thoroughly satisfying, and its firmly in the tradition of the 1930s comedies which obviously served as the model for Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod’s script. The two stars are marvellous – this is before Murphy’s self-indulgence got the better of him – and there's great backup from Jamie Lee Curtis, Denholm Elliott, Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche. One thing though – it’s one of the most badly photographed studio films I’ve ever seen.

OCTOPUSSY

1983, John Glen, 131 mins.

Bond in India and East Berlin and, er, Sotheby's.

Despite misgivings, this is one of my favourite Bond movies. The stereotypical portrayal of India jars – although it helps if you see it as part of the “Boy’s Own” tradition of Gunga Din – and some of the "adolescent antics" disapprovingly mentioned by Q are embarrassing in the context of Roger Moore’s obvious age. But on the whole it's a brisk, funny, and exciting film, which looks a treat and offers two delicious bad guys - Louis Jourdan's exquisitely wry Kemal Khan and General Orlov, played by a madly overacting Steven Berkoff. The technical credits are, as you’d expect, top-notch. There’s a fine John Barry score and a nice cameo from the extraordinary eyebrows of Douglas Wilmer. Dreary Maud Adams in the title role drags the film down, but thankfully doesn't have too much to do, and the ending is strangely anti-climactic.